Media handling mechanism

ABSTRACT

The Media Handling Mechanism application to Media Handling devices includes pickup roller, cam and feed roller. The feed roller feeds the media, then the pickup roller presses the media with friction pad, and picks up the media by rotating motion. The Media Handling Mechanism applies to kinds of the media of different size and thickness. This simple design not only decreases the cost, but also the working efficiency is improved.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The invention relates to a handling mechanism for use in media handling devices, particularly a media handling mechanism for conveying media.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] In office environment of businesses, paper is widely used for mails and other documents. That often needs printing, copying or faxing. The general office equipment and business machines, such as copiers, inkjet printers, laser printers, fax, and scanners need to put paper in the machine. As a lot of paper is used, printing quality and operating efficiency have become a key focus research and development of the business machine manufacturing industry.

[0003] One of the areas of improvements is media handling operation. Business machines now on the market have many different types of media feeding apparatus. In general, they can be grouped in an L-type path method and an U-type path method. FIG. 1 illustrates the conventional paper pickup apparatus. It has a media tray 300 to store paper 90. There is a pick-up roller 200 to contact the paper 90. The pick-up roller 200 rotates and has friction to move the paper 90 horizontally. One side of the media tray 300 has a snubber 310 to block the movement of the paper 90, and make the paper buckle and deform. One side of the paper 90 is pushed by a returning force and springs out of the media tray 300. Thus the paper may be conveyed as desired. This is the U-type path method (Snubber type).

[0004] Another paper conveying method is friction retard, shown in FIG. 2, that is the second type. It also has a media tray 300 to store paper 90. A pick-up roller 400 is located and next to the upper side of the media tray 300, and is connected to a friction pad 500 in normal conditions. The pick-up roller 400 rotates to move the paper 90. The pick-up roller 400 and the friction pad 500 operate in a cooperative way to clip the paper 90 for conveying.

[0005] However, the commonly used paper conveying methods mentioned above are not suitable for moving paper or other media of a greater thickness such as transparency films, envelops, or the like. As those media(i.e. papers) have a greater rigidity and are less likely to be deformed or buckled, feeding paper or other media is more difficult or impossible. In addition, angle bending or folding is prone to happen. Hence conventional paper handling mechanisms are only applicable to paper of limited specifications that have specific sizes and thickness.

[0006] Therefore the industry has developed another type of paper conveying method. For instance, EP patent No. 816,107, entitled “Paper feeding apparatus and printer” employs an idle roller to control the gap of the pickup roller. But it cannot effectively control the gap required by the paper. U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,036, entitled “Rotatable cam device for a pickup roller of a printer” discloses another type of paper conveying method. It has a plurality of sprockets engaging with the pick-up roller to clip and transport the paper. While it can convey paper, its structure is very complicated. The production cost is high and maintenance is difficult.

[0007] The two exampled mentioned above are the L-type path method. Although they have the advantage of lifting the limitation of paper size and thickness, they still have the following drawbacks like all conventional media handling mechanisms: 1. A multi-feed problem, i.e. more than one piece of paper is picked up during the handling process. 2. Mis-feeding, i.e. no paper is picked up and fed due to different paper thickness. 3. Paper jamming, i.e. paper is jammed and blocked due to different sizes and thickness of the paper, resulting in interruption of paper conveying.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] The object of the invention is to solve the foregoing problems. The invention provides a media handling mechanism that has a conveying unit rotationally. The conveying unit has a cam to stop feeding of media held in a media tray, and generate a gap to put a predetermined number of the paper in the conveying unit. Then a pick-up roller pushes a friction pad to clip the paper, and rotates to move the paper into a business machine for printing or scanning operations. The media handling mechanism of the invention has a simple structure, and is adaptable to media of different specifications. It can effectively prevent the problems of multi-feeding and paper jamming. The simple structure reduces production costs and effectively increases operation efficiency. In addition, media of various sizes and thickness can be used. Thus utilization is more flexible.

[0009] The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a first type of conventional media handling devices.

[0011]FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a second type of conventional media handling devices.

[0012]FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the media handling mechanism of the invention.

[0013] FIGS. 4 to 8 are schematic views of the media handling mechanism of the invention in various operating conditions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0014] Refer to FIG. 3 for the media handling mechanism of the invention. It mainly includes a conveying unit 10 and a friction pad 40. The conveying unit 10 includes a pick-up roller 20 and a cam 30 that are coupled together and rotationally installed in a media handling device. A driving module such as a motor (not shown in the drawing) is provided to connect the conveying unit 10 to provide kinetic energy required in the rotational movements of the conveying unit. The pick-up roller 20 and the top surface of the friction pad 40 are at a predetermined distance. The top surfaces of both are formed in arched shapes to avoid damaging the surface of the media 90 during operations (will be discussed later). The coupled pick-up roller 20 and the cam 30 are formed in an integrated manner. They are shown in a separated fashion in the drawing, to explain the movements of the conveying unit 10. While they are separated and independent, it is by no means a restriction.

[0015] The friction pad 40 is a flat board made of rubber. It is located on a lower side of the conveying unit 10. There is a first elastic element: a first spring 41, which has one end, fastening to a loading base 100, and another end connecting to the friction pad 40. In normal conditions, the first spring 41 provides an elastic force to press the friction pad 40 to allow the friction pad 40 mounting on the loading base 100 in a biased manner, at a predetermined angle. A media tray 70 is located on one side of the loading base 100 for storing media 90. There is a lifting plate 71 located on one side of the media tray 70. A second elastic element, a second spring 72, is located between the media tray 70 and the lifting plate 71, creating an elastic force, to lift the lifting plate 71. A realigning hook 50 is pivotally hinged on the bottom side of the conveying unit 10 to block the media 90 held in the media tray 70 from feeding in normal conditions. A driven cam 60 is located on one side of the realigning hook 50 to selectively press the realigning hook 50 and rotate the realigning hook 50 to a predetermined angle for the media 90, to be fed into the conveying unit 10.

[0016] By means of the construction set forth above, operations of the invention will be discussed as follows by referring to FIGS. 4 to 8. Referring to FIG. 4, first, the realigning hook 50 realigns the media 90 in normal conditions. The driven cam 60 rotates for a predetermined angle to move the realigning hook 50 rearwards and slide the media 90 downwards. Next, the conveying unit 10 rotates, the cam 30 is driven to turn downwards to contact and press the friction pad 40. The cam 30 at this stage is to replace the function of the realigning hook 50 to stop the media 90 from sliding down, and also prevent the media 90 from being fed. In the mean time, a predetermined gap is formed to use a selected amount of media and generate a separation effect for the media 90. The media 90, located on the top layer, enters. Referring to FIG. 5, the second spring 72 provides an elastic force to push the lifting plate 71 upwards for a predetermined distance and make the media 90 located on the top layer go between the friction pad 40 and the pick-up roller 20. The conveying unit 10 continues moving, to drive the cam 30 and the pick-up roller 20, rotating for a predetermined angle. The cam 30 is no longer in motion with the friction pad 40, instead, the pick-up roller 20 presses the friction pad 40 and clips the media 90 out of the media tray 70. Referring to FIG. 6, the pick-up roller 20 continuously rotates to convey the media 90 to the loading base 100. Referring to FIG. 7, one side of the loading base 100 has a media feeding module which has a feed roller 80 to feed the media 90, to move continuously and avoid paper jam, and control compression of the second spring 72, to lower the lifting plate 71 such, that the media 90 is moved back into the media tray 70. The conveying unit 10 completes the operations and returns to the normal condition without being connected to the friction pad 40 and the media 90. Finally, as shown in FIG. 8, the driven cam 60 rotates to a predetermined angle to drive the realigning hook 50, and the media 90 is moved back to the media tray 70 to prevent multi-feeding.

[0017] The previous description has clearly shown the operational relationship between the conveying unit 10 and the friction pad 40. Separating operations of the media 90 in the media tray 70 are also described The cam 30 controls the gap to receive a predetermined number of the media 90. The pick-up roller 20 feeds the media 90. The mechanism is simply constructed. It not only reduces production cost, it also separates the media accurately and increases operation efficiency. Moreover, the techniques disclosed in the invention may also be adapted to handle media of different sizes and thickness to satisfy the user's requirements.

[0018] While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments not departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A media handling mechanism adopted for use on a media handling device for conveying media contained in a media tray, comprising: a conveying unit rotationally installed in the media handling device including a pickup roller and a cam connected together; and a friction pad movably located on one side of the conveying unit; wherein the conveying unit rotates to drive the cam to contact the friction pad to form a gap of a predetermined distance to receive a selected number of the media and the pick-up roller presses the friction pad to pickups the media and carry the media away from the media tray and move the media into the media handling device.
 2. The media handling mechanism of claim 1, wherein the pick-up roller and the top surface of the cam are spaced for a predetermined distance.
 3. The media handling mechanism of claim 1 further having a driving module to provide kinetic energy required by the conveying unit for rotation.
 4. The media handling mechanism of claim 1, wherein the pick-up roller and the cam are integrally formed.
 5. The media handling mechanism of claim 1 further having a first elastic element located on a bottom section of the friction pad to provide a returning elastic force to press the friction pad when the friction pad is depressed.
 6. The media handling mechanism of claim 5, wherein the first elastic element is a spring.
 7. The media handling mechanism of claim 1 further having a realigning element pivotally located on one side of the conveying unit for stopping the media contained in the media tray from entering into the conveying unit.
 8. The media handling mechanism of claim 7 further having a driven cam rotationally located on one side of the realigning element to press the realigning element to turn to a predetermined angle.
 9. The media handling mechanism of claim 7, wherein the realigning element is a realigning hook.
 10. The media handling mechanism of claim 1 further having a media feeding module for feeding the media fed by the conveying unit to move continuously and prevent media jam from occurring.
 11. The media handling mechanism of claim 10, wherein the media feeding module is a feed roller.
 12. The media handling mechanism of claim 10, wherein the friction pad is made from rubber.
 13. The media handling mechanism of claim 1 further having a lifting plate movably located in the media tray.
 14. The media handling mechanism of claim 13 further having a second elastic element located on a bottom side of the media tray to provide an axial elastic force to lift the lifting plate to a predetermined distance to feed the media held in the media tray into the conveying unit.
 15. The media handling mechanism of claim 14, wherein the second elastic element is a spring. 